It's still nine.
And probably not. Season 49 likely starts at some point this fall, so the premiere of the 50th would probably be sometime in late summer or fall of next year.
If they have an anniversary special though, maybe that'll air on both channels.

Now here’s a question for you all: Given the show’s 6 month gap between airing the new season on PBS does anyone think that an exception will be made to air Season 50 on both HBO and PBS next year ?

At the very least the first episode of Season 50 ?

Click to expand...

"Rit's a rossarility."

After all, they did air the "Meet Julia" ep on both networks at the same time, so you never know. Though I would like to see a primetime special on maybe one of the major networks like ABC or whatever like they've done for other milestone season specials.